Panoa tapanuiensis is a species of Desidae spider that is endemic to New Zealand.
This species was described by Ray Forster in 1970 from a female specimen. The holotype is stored in Otago Museum.
The female is recorded at 4.67mm in length. The carapace is coloured reddish brown. The legs are yellowish brown. The abdomen is mottled whitish.
This species is only known from Otago, New Zealand.
Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, this species is listed as "Data Deficient" with the qualifiers of "Data Poor: Size", "Data Poor: Trend" and "One Location".